Sunday, January 25, 2015

I Thought I Was Heartless.... Alas If I Stay Gave Me The Feels | Sofia Speculates (2)


Welcome to the second ever episode of Sofia Speculates aka the feature I've been doing since I started blogging (rambling) that finally has a name. These speculations range from bookish to life to myself. So sit back, relax, and grab a cup of coffee, because I spend FOREVER sewing bits of my soul into the HTML brackets of this blog post discussing whatever topic is at hand.


This Is So Weird.... The booknerd has never cried because of a book. I feel almost as if this were a violation to who I claim to be. A book has never given me such feels that illicit tears. I'm a heck of a lot more likely to go around the room ranting and jumping than crying. It's Sofia nature (because we're still waiting on test results to see if I'm human or not). 

Yet that has all changed.....
Because of a book-to-movie adaptation.

I'm not sure if you've heard of it, but it's pretty popular
One of my earliest reviews on Loving the Language of Literacy was a Series Overview of the If I Stay Duology. Although I wanted to, I never got around to watching the book to movie adaptation. I actually remember coming home from school on a Friday and sitting in front of my computer to watch the trailer. I had goosebumps and literal chills running up and down my spine (in the most clichely realistic way possible). I KNEW the movie would be good, but I never guessed it would be as effective. 

Book-to-Movie Adaptation Mini-Review: While If I Stay wasn't even my favorite novel in the duology, I gave it a solid 4 out of 5 stars for a creative concept, I felt as if I couldn't connect with the characters the way the author intended me to, didn't care at all when the parents died, and did not receive the feels. The movie changed ALL of that and was a successful 5/5 stars.

Initially, I felt taken aback because of how unrealistically they portrayed Mia and her life. The idea of her watching all of the event of the hospital unfold around her seemed extremely "WTF?" whereas with the novel, I went along with it, no questions asked. Yet, by the end of it, I saw a brilliant story pieced together and got such a better feel for the character and the story. Hats off to the picture AND sound editing team. 

What Does An Automatic 5/5 Stars Need? The surest way to get Sofia to like your media - whether it's television, movies, or books - is to make her feel emotions, get her invested enough in the story to make her feel. Crying, something I never do, was what made this such a good movie.

Let's Have the Actual Backstory.... I flew with one of my parents to Los Angeles for a day (even longer backstory I won't divulge into) and the lovely airplane was playing If I Stay

Even though I wanted to read/be productive, it was If I Stay
The movie is 107 minutes long, and it wasn't until around the 85 minute mark that the first tear arrived. I thought it was from the high altitude that my eyes had gotten watery. Then another tear came.... then another.

Ten minutes later, the tears were just streaming down my face in great rivulets of being. I hadn't even felt this way with Where She Went. I don't know what was going on, the movie had just been so emotionally moving and the buildup was so surprising. For once, I actually felt sorry for Mia Hall and her life. When her relationship with Adam wasn't going well, when her family fathered in the waiting room and came to visit her, and then when we saw how truly awesome her parents were.... I just lost it. 

And there we have it, the story of how Sofia's heart grew three sizes over the span of two hours. 

Let's Discuss:
Do you have any embarrassing stories about when you cried because of a movie/tv/book?
Are you like how I used to be and never cry because of a medium?
Have you seen/read If I Stay and had the same feelings?

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